Years ago before the twins and Liberty were born. My wife and I were out of everything in the house and had no money. We were out of everything from toliet paper to formula and diapers for our first born son. We had prayed for days for the money to come and God just didnt seem to answer. Then one night I believe it was a Sunday night we went to church and there was a guest speaker there speaking that night and he would be there for a few nights speaking on doing street evangelism and holding revival meetings. I sat there with my wife the first night and listened as he gave his testimony and while I sat there I felt the Lord tell me to go out of the church and preach to people on the streets. I fought it for a while but it was strong and I thought but I really didn’t know how yet he hadnt taught on it yet. I also thought that it may be the devil telling me to do it to get me out of the church and so I would miss something so I didn’t want to go but after a while fighting with it I told my wife I had to run somewhere quick and that I would be back. I didn’t tell anyone what I was going to do. SO I left the church and hit the streets I went up to a group of kids and none of them wanted to hear about Jesus and asked me to quit bothering them. I tried to go up to people walking the streets but people saw me coming and walked on the oposite side of the street. I even went to the gas station and knocked on car windows and they would roll down their window and I would preach to them and they would laugh at me and drive off. It didn’t go so well so I thought I knew for sure I had heard from the devil. I walked back to the church with my head down thinking I had just heard from the devil and that the man preaching who I didn’t know is going to hear from God and point me out and tell everyone I had heard from the devil. So I made it back to the church and sat down next to my wife with a downcast heart and five minutes later the man preaching said you in the back and pointed at me, “come up hear.” I thought this is it he is hearing from God and is going to rebuke me in front of everyone. But I was going to take it like a man and I went up there with my head held high. I got up there and he put his arm around me and said this guy gets it. He is walking with the Lord and you should watch his life and a whole bunch of other things about me. He then prayed over me and told the deacons to pass the offering plate around and take up an offering for me. I couldn’t believe it not only did I not get rebuked but this guy was taking up an offering for my needs. We didn’t know this man and we never told anyone in the church we had a need or was praying and I never told anyone where I was going it was totally God. They took up the offering plate and there was over a thousand dollars in there. It was enough to meet our needs and then some I ended up giving a lot of it away and taking what we needed. But the Bible says seek first the kingdom of heaven and all these things will be added onto you. That’s what I did by being obedient and listening to the Lord by preaching on the streets and the Lord met our needs and then some. I have all kinds of testimonies like this of the Lord doing amazing things, God is goodYears ago before the twins and Liberty were born. My wife and I were out of everything in the house and had no money. We were out of everything from toliet paper to formula and diapers for our first born son. We had prayed for days for the money to come and God just didnt seem to answer. Then one night I believe it was a Sunday night we went to church and there was a guest speaker there speaking that night and he would be there for a few nights speaking on doing street evangelism and holding revival meetings. I sat there with my wife the first night and listened as he gave his testimony and while I sat there I felt the Lord tell me to go out of the church and preach to people on the streets. I fought it for a while but it was strong and I thought but I really didn’t know how yet he hadnt taught on it yet. I also thought that it may be the devil telling me to do it to get me out of the church and so I would miss something so I didn’t want to go but after a while fighting with it I told my wife I had to run somewhere quick and that I would be back. I didn’t tell anyone what I was going to do. SO I left the church and hit the streets I went up to a group of kids and none of them wanted to hear about Jesus and asked me to quit bothering them. I tried to go up to people walking the streets but people saw me coming and walked on the oposite side of the street. I even went to the gas station and knocked on car windows and they would roll down their window and I would preach to them and they would laugh at me and drive off. It didn’t go so well so I thought I knew for sure I had heard from the devil. I walked back to the church with my head down thinking I had just heard from the devil and that the man preaching who I didn’t know is going to hear from God and point me out and tell everyone I had heard from the devil. So I made it back to the church and sat down next to my wife with a downcast heart and five minutes later the man preaching said you in the back and pointed at me, “come up hear.” I thought this is it he is hearing from God and is going to rebuke me in front of everyone. But I was going to take it like a man and I went up there with my head held high. I got up there and he put his arm around me and said this guy gets it. He is walking with the Lord and you should watch his life and a whole bunch of other things about me. He then prayed over me and told the deacons to pass the offering plate around and take up an offering for me. I couldn’t believe it not only did I not get rebuked but this guy was taking up an offering for my needs. We didn’t know this man and we never told anyone in the church we had a need or was praying and I never told anyone where I was going it was totally God. They took up the offering plate and there was over a thousand dollars in there. It was enough to meet our needs and then some I ended up giving a lot of it away and taking what we needed. But the Bible says seek first the kingdom of heaven and all these things will be added onto you. That’s what I did by being obedient and listening to the Lord by preaching on the streets and the Lord met our needs and then some. I have all kinds of testimonies like this of the Lord doing amazing things, God is good

Prophetic Ministry Doesnt Always Tell You What You Want to Hear

I minister on Elishaserves.com it was one of the first prophetic ministry sites by email. And I just ministered to a woman the other day and told her accurately about her life and she said it was right but since it wasn't what she was praying for she said I must have been hearing from demon's or familiar spirits. She actually rebuked me and everythi...ng and tried to rebuke the spirits out of me. I have been doing prophetic ministry for years and if you don't tell people what they want to hear they aren't happy. But you can only see what God shows you. I remember I was on prophetic teams with John Paul Jackson's ministry and we sat down to minister to a man and the others on the team were getting bless me words about how much God loved him, wanted to bless him and was going to anoint him. Alli kept seeing was a woman in a white gown coming out of him and going away from him and I felt sadness and that this was very strong so I told him what I saw and felt and he broke down in tears and said his wife is leaving him. God wanted to minister to him about this but I got in trouble and wrote up because the rule was we don't give prophetic words about relationships. But that's what God was showing me and what he needed. Again we are not psychics we can only see what were shown and sometimes its not what people want but does that mean its garbage. Doing prophetic ministry for people is no cake walk its work and so many people that volunteer to become a minister on my site to do prophetic ministry dont last too long because of this. People take them for granted like they are some kind of fortune telling machine but they are Gods servants brining forth the word of the Lord.Prophetic Ministry Doesnt Always Tell You What You Want to Hear

What Gods Real Voice Sounds Like

One time in a dream God has let me hear his real voice. God’s real voice is like nothing else that I ever have felt or heard. There was so much power in His voice; his voice was neither male nor female sounding it was almost like a computer or robot voice having a neutral tone to it.

There was such power in his voice when He spoke, it shook everything and everything moved. It wasn’t like an earthquake; it was like everything including the ...air itself was being electrocuted. If you have ever had an electric shock the electricity moves and shocks every muscle in your body as it flows through you. It was like that, His voice was electric and it was shocking everything including the air itself and everything was moving and shaking because of the electric shock and His voice flowed like water through everything moving and having the ability to morph anything. It flowed through and electrocuted every atom and molecule having the ability to change them or destroy them, His voice just flowed to the ends of the universe in an electric wave. God’s voice contained the power with just one word to destroy even the greatest army. Just one word could destroy the air itself including every atom and molecule. God’s voice contains the power to create because there is an energizing life in His voice. It was like electricity. It was almost like His voice itself was alive.

It is no longer hard for me to imagine how God could create the heavens and the earth by just speaking it. I also saw the spirit of the Lord in the dream and it came over me and I could only see out of it and it looked like a white cloud around me in a silhouette form. That makes sense because the Bible says God is spirit. I woke up shaking from that dream it was so powerful. I was pretty shook up for a while after that. I still get goosebumps when I think of it.

Love Wins By Adam Becker

I have had more than a few interactions with people who don’t believe in God and they say all that they don’t like about the Bible and they actually say that they are against Christians. They don’t like God or Christianity for a number of reasons. Some say that the church is all about money. Which I can see their point some churches have multimillion dollar buildings and the pastors live in mansions and have private jets. They also tell you to sow your seed all that you have and God will make you rich. While God does bless giving many times you don’t get rich instead the preacher who is getting the money does but that is a different story for another day. And these rich churches don’t help the poor as much as their taking in. That even upsets me. They hate the church because they say Christians are hypocrites or they were a Christian at one time and they didn’t see anything come from it like they never saw any proof of God and they are living a more moral life now without Christ. I have heard that one before and I don’t know how you can live a more moral life without Christ but there are atheists that claim too. Then some have been hurt like one I know that attacks Christians because his wife died of cancer so he is now on a mission to rid the world of Christianity. I feel for him I really do losing someone to cancer or the like is terrible and it makes you wonder why God didn’t save them but it’s not our place to figure out God. There are many reasons why atheists exist I don’t have time to go through them all but there are a multitude of them some you can kind of see their point and others you really can’t. Lately when I see someone attack Christians I reply to them and say you mean to tell me that you are against loving your neighbor, peace, forgiveness and helping the poor and a whole lot of other good things because that is what Christianity is supposed to be about. We seem to forget what Christianity is and what God is. They don’t seem to know it either. Christianity is not a social club, or a political party. Especially the political party thing the conservatives don’t believe in welfare and I have heard of ministers that call the disabled lazy and the poor free loaders. But that is not the heart of Christ, Christ was all for helping the poor when he fed the five thousand he didn’t say I won’t feed you because you didn’t work for it. Christianity is not about a building, or giving all your money to a TV evangelist or local church. It’s not about the pastor or the worship team even though I respect those things. It’s not about stopping abortion of putting an end to gay marriage. It’s not about beating people up with the Bible and judging them. No the church is not about all the things that people seem to make it into it’s about love. God is love. When I say to the people that attack Christianity that you mean to tell me you are against loving your neighbor, peace, forgiveness and helping the poor they then don’t have a reply. Love wins, God is love, the only way we are going to win with people who are hostile to the Gospel and Christianity is love. Love on someone today. When people reject the gospel they are rejecting love. Show them just what it is they are rejecting.

www.elishaserves.com

The Tickle Me Prophetsby Adam Becker

I don't know how many times I have heard people in a worship service or in a one on one setting give prophetic words but it has been more than I can count. I tell you that most of the time it wasn't prophetic at all but tickle your ears stuff that comes out of their mouth. Today in Charismatic circles everyone says they are a prophet and has prophetic gifts, we have whole church's just filled with these prophetic people, there seem to be more prophets in some churches than any other gift or office. But it always seems to be the same words that they give out. If it's about the church it goes something like this "The Lord is with you church and is about to bring you up to a new level, for the Lord is pleased and will do mighty things through you" if it's about he the pastor it always says that God thinks he is so wonderful and is about to promote him with more anointing. When its personal prophecies it has to do with God blessing the person and saying that He loves them so much and will give them a greater anointing or has called them to some great ministry somewhere.

You would be surprised just how many supposed future millionaires and Benny Hinns that are sitting in all the pews. Oh yeah and there is the healing gift prophecies too. One out of ten people get a prophecy that says something about how God is going to use them to heal everyone and how they will lay hands on people in wheel chairs and they will walk. It is really neat to watch these people's lives, most end up never being used to heal anyone. But everyone is pleased with their tickle my ears prophecies and lift up the so called prophetic people who gave them and everyone speaks well of them.

The Bible says in Luke 6:26(NIV), "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets."

Tickle Me Words

There is nothing new under the sun, there have been so called prophets like that around forever. Listen, you will have a very famous and well-loved ministry if you tell people what they want to hear, everyone will speak well of you and want to be around you. They will even want to give you money and search you out because you make them feel good and approve of and confirm all their plans. But don't fall into this trap as being liked by everyone doesn't make you a prophet as a matter of fact it most likely means that you aren't one at all. It is so easy to give tickle me words, they are words that don't take a lot of faith to give because you know they will be received and you will be liked for them. But God doesn't want you to take the easy road of faith if you are going to walk in the prophetic, He wants you to take chances and stretch your faith.

A prophet speaks for the Lord not the people; don't tell people what they want to hear. Don't try and be liked by everyone all the time. I know there are schools of prophetic that are teaching people to always say good stuff especially in the church setting but that don't mean its right. It doesn't matter what famous prophetic leader is teaching you to do it don't fall into that trap. The Bible is full of so called prophets who told people what they wanted to hear and God did not approve. Yes, God does have good messages and yes sometimes God wants to bless people and promote but if that is all your messages are about you have to wonder. Are you really speaking for God or for man?

www.elishaserves.com

How Do You Know If You Have Forgiven

By Adam Becker

The world can be a cruel place sometimes and people can be at the heart of it. We all have been wronged and hurt by others. We all have had opportunity to need to forgive. The Bible is clear on forgiveness, we need to forgive. But how and what does forgiveness look like?

The Bible says; Matthew 18:23-35 (NIV) Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26 The servant fell on his knees before him. "Be patient with me," he begged, "and I will pay back everything." 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. "Pay back what you owe me!" he demanded.

29 His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, "Be patient with me, and I will pay you back."

30 But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32 Then the master called the servant in. "You wicked servant," he said, "I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35 This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.

Forgiving a Debt

In the story the man owed a very large debt a debt he could never repay. Even though he owed that debt the man was forgiven. The king had the power to punish him but instead wiped the debt clean. The man was forgiven for so much but then we see he could not forgive someone for so little. The king saw this man's un-forgiveness and chose to revoke his pardon.

This story gives us a lot to chew on. It is obvious that the king is the Lord and we are the first debtor. What is hard to imagine is how God can just revoke the forgiveness of our sins like that. I can't give you a solid answer on that and don't want to for theological reasons but if Christ said it then it must have some merit. God forgives freely, by just accepting His sons atonement and sacrifice on the cross you are forgiven. But once you are saved, if you are truly saved your life will start to change. The Bible says 1 John 3:9-10 (NIV) No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

This has to do with being born again; once you come to Christ the Holy Spirit will come to live within you that is the seed that verse nine is referring to. That seed begins to change you. The word continue in verse nine refers to habitual sins. So in other words once you come to Christ the Holy spirit comes to live within you and it changes you to where you won't do the same stuff you always did anymore. There will be a change in your life. Sure you will make mistakes but it won't be the same mistakes over and over. Maybe that is the reason the man's forgiveness was revoked. He proved by his actions that he was not a changed man and thus not a true child of God.

If you look at the story it kind of gives you a clue of what forgiveness looks like. The man wanted to be repaid; he felt something was owed to him. The debt demanded restitution. A clue that you have forgiven is that you wish no repayment or restitution. Yes, true forgiveness has to do with letting the debt go. Wanting repayment or restitution can come in many forms. Wanting them to get theirs is a form of repayment. Even wanting God to judge them and saying things like "vengeance is mine saith the Lord" or "that's between you and God" are all indications that you are looking for repayment. The repayment may collected by God but it is still collection of the debt a debt that was already paid for by Christ. Slandering the person to others in order to hurt them is also seeking restitution. And bitterness can likewise be a form of repayment.

Forgiving All

There are schools of thought that teach that we are to forgive only those who ask for it and are sorry. I can only say something doesn't feel right about that. The Bible doesn't tell us to forgive only if people are truly sorry; there are some verses about if they repent but I don't want to take that risk. We need to forgive whether they are sorry or not. When they crucified Christ they did not say they were sorry yet Jesus cried out;

Luke 23:34 (NIV) Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

It can be hard to forgive when the person is not sorry or feels they have done no wrong but we must do it anyway. I am sure there are sins that we don't even know we have committed yet our slate is wiped clean. Wipe clean the slate of the offender no matter what their attitude is. You don't have to like what they did and you don't have to trust them but let it go. Pardon their wrong doing and seek no restitution, harbor no bitterness especially if it's a spouse. Also know that God loves that person and He can change them, there is hope. I watched Him work in my life and my wife's life, It may take a while but don't forget God is a miracle worker. It may not be easy but few things in life are.

Forgiveness is work we can't hold on to and dwell on a debt or wrong that was done to us especially in a marriage. When you are offended or wronged don't dwell on it and don't give the devil a foot hold.

Dealing with offense and forgiveness is like dealing with temptation;

The Bible says in James 1:14-15 NKJV But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed, then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

An Ongoing Process

Forgiveness is an ongoing process, just like temptation that offense will keep coming back over and over. Just when you think it is gone it may pop its ugly head out again. With temptation you can't be tempted by something you don't have a desire for or appetite for. Then after you desire it and think on it you become dragged away and enticed by it. After you let it drag you away it conceives and gives birth to sin. Well that can be the same with forgiveness. An offense that you don't have feelings or hurts about will not drag you away. You have to still have some pretty significant wounds for it to do that. Then after the wound is there thoughts will come. If you entertain those thoughts they will drag you away and you will give birth to wanting repayment all over again. Forgiveness is not an instant thing. Whenever there is a wound or hurt it will want to keep coming up in your mind but you must cut it short so it can't drag you away. Don t get to that point, the minute it comes up let it go, rebuke the thought. I had to do that over and over in my marriage and in my life. It is so natural to want revenge and to be repaid, even to want justice. But the truth is if we all received do justice no one would be alive, we are all worthy of the death penalty for the wrongs we have done. I sure don't want to get mine or have what comes around go around so why should I wish it on others.

You must also remember to that the person who has wronged you is human and you are human. People are prone to error and making mistakes, they are prone to do things that are selfish with no regard for others. Human nature will always be a tempter to mankind and sometimes will win just as it has won in your life. Face the fact that you have made a lot of mistakes in your life and yet the Lord has forgiven you. Just as He has forgiven you you will need to forgive others. Know that people are going to let you down, you could hold un-forgiveness towards that person and even get revenge but guess what someone else is going to come along and let you down again. In your lifetime you will have many encounters with people in which they will hurt you in some way. If you don't choose forgiveness and see people for what they are which is human you will have a very unhappy life and a long list of enemies. Humans make mistakes don't hold it against them.

Chose to forgive and clothe yourself in love as the Bible says;

Col 3:12-14 (NIV) Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe your selves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Forgiveness doesn't always mean trusting them but it does mean not holding it against them in order to hurt them, chose to forgive! One of the key indicators that you have forgiven is not wishing that they receive repayment or punishment for what they did to you, according to that have you forgiven? If you are holding un-forgiveness repent, there is still time to change things. There is hope in any situation no wound is so great as to be un-forgiven, if everyone received punishment for all the wrong they did then everyone in the world would be dead, Christ died for even them that have wronged you and He took their punishment. And most importantly ask for Gods help in forgiving someone. Ask the Lord to take away the hurt and fill it with love. Forgiveness is a process and takes work, stay on top of your hurts and don't let them carry you away.

www.elishaserves.com

Is There a Lack of Blessing on Your Career, Business or Ministry?

By Adam Becker

Most people know the story of Cain and Abel and of that terrible event that caused the very first murder in scripture. A murder took place between brothers born of the same womb because of jealousy, greed and selfish gain. Cain was jealous of Gods favoritism and approval of Abel and Cain tried to change things by eliminating the competition, his brother Abel. But you can also see from this story that Cain’s lively hood was farming and when he slew Abel, Abel’s blood went into the ground, the ground was Cain’s lively hood, it actually caused a curse to be on Cain’s farming career and God said that it will no longer produce for you and you will be driven from it.

Gen 4:2-16

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

6 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"

"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

15 But the LORD said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

NIV

There are many things to learn from this story but the thing that I am impressed to point out is that Cain actually sowed sin into his career and the result of that was he was no longer blessed or prosperous in it, it stopped producing for him. Even though other men may not have seen what Cain had done the Lord did and the ground spoke of it; “The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.” Just like sowing a seed into the ground so Cain sowed his bothers blood.

Many of us have careers, businesses, ministries and such and it doesn’t really matter if we are Christians or not we may still get jealous of others or the competition and in our struggles to get ahead in this life we may have hurt a few people on the way or did things that were not right in the Lords sight. This only sows seeds of cursing into our careers, businesses, and even ministries but sooner or latter the Lord is going to take notice of that and deal with it. Maybe you are noticing already that your lively hood is not producing like it should or that God seems to be so distant this could be an indication that there may be seeds of blood sown. To sow seeds of blood and murder it doesn’t mean that you have to actually kill someone; Mat 5:21,22.

If things in your life don’t seem to be going as good as they used too take time today to pray before the Lord and search yourself to see if any blood shed was sown into your lively hood and if there was repent! Even though Cain did what he did God had mercy on him, we unlike Cain are under a new covenant and a dispensation of grace, the Bible says; 1 John 1:8-9

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

NIV

Get before the Lord today and ask him to show you where blood may have been sowed in your life, even if you haven’t seen a lack of fruit or blessing it doesn’t mean that it’s not on its way.

Elisha Serves Ministries

www.elishaserves.com

Can a Christian Get a Divorce?By Adam Becker

So many church's and people differ on the subject of divorce. Some divorce for any old reason why others believe there is no way out of a marriage. The fact is many Christians are divorced which leaves questions about it like is it really permitted at all.

Years back I heard the story of one man who was faced with divorce in a church that did not look on it favorably. It was a charismatic Word of Faith type church but many in the church believed there was no way out of a marriage.

Basically what had happened was the man's wife had had an affair with his best friend; she became pregnant from this affair. He found out about the affair and her pregnancy and wanted to file for divorce. She was not repentant for her sin and didn't see much wrong with it. In any case when people in his church found out they spoke up. They condemned the man for wanting a divorce. They told him that God hates divorce and if he chose to divorce he had a hard heart and was going to hell. They said he had to raise his best friend's child that his wife was pregnant with and that was what God wanted him to do. Some of these same people were divorced themselves who gave him this advice.

He listened to them and believed that God was going to send him to hell if he didn't do it and believed that God was as hard and mad at him as they portrayed. So he took his wife back and raised the child as his own. The real father ran off and hid so he adopted the child. His wife continued to live life her way. She continued to cheat on him and do very ungodly things all the time. When he brought that up to the people at his church they only condemned him all the more saying it was his fault that she did what she did and that if he was more loving then she would change. They again said he could not leave her or he had a hard heart and was going to hell. This went on for several years. In the end she cheated for the last time and he finally left her. But even so some people still condemned him. This whole situation really hurt him and clouded his view of Christians and the church, it hurt his faith as well.

What does the Bible Say?

I can't imagine how anyone can condemn a man who could go through that, raise that child and stay with a spouse like that but they did over and over. I can tell you they were wrong and they were also wrong about what they told him about there being no way out of a marriage. The Bible does give ways out.

What does the Bible say about divorce then and why did they tell him he couldn't divorce if the Bible permits it?

The Bible says in Matthew 19:8-9 (NIV) Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."

According to Christ, divorce is permitted in cases where the spouse has committed adultery. It is written plain as day and pretty self-explanatory or at least one would think. However some argue that verse eight says "because your hearts were hard." They go on to say that a person who divorces because of adultery has a hard heart and people with a hard heart are sinners and are going to hell. Some people actually believed that but know that that is intentionally manipulating scripture and taking things out of context. In context the "hard hearts" was referring to people who divorced under "Mosses law" for any old reason. This did not pertain to adultery as why would Christ then continue on and say "except of marital unfaithfulness." It is clear that if someone commits adultery you can chose to divorce. It may not be the best option or wise but it is permissible. Some may say wait a minute won't you be in sin for un-forgiveness? The truth is you can divorce someone for adultery and still forgive them. The divorce doesn't mean that you aren't going to forgive them it just means that the marriage contract was breached! It means you can't trust them anymore to stay faithful. Unfaithfulness can cause all kinds of problems such as children who are not biologically yours, disease and a whole lot of conflict. It also defeats the whole purpose of marriage which is to become one flesh.

God is a God of Reconciliation

Don't get me wrong here I am not for divorce, there can be hope and change in situations involving adultery, God is a God of reconciliation, meaning He wants things to be worked out if possible. However the advice that people gave the man in my story was wrong and God is not pleased by people who twist around scripture and take things out of context to control people. Divorce is permitted for cases of adultery and that is that. One other way you can look at is if someone commits adultery it is their heart that is hard not the victims heart.

There is one other reason divorce is permitted according to scripture and that is if your spouse leaves you.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 7:15 (NIV) But if the unbeliever leaves, let him do so. A believing man or woman is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.

In this passage Paul was referring to an unbelieving spouse who is not willing to stay in the marriage. If that happens then a divorce is permitted. As you can't force someone to stay married to you. That is the only other known reason for divorce in the Bible. But you know something the church is filled with divorced people many who have remarried. I know that there are some who divorced for other reasons than the ones that I mentioned. Some of them spend their lives always wondering if they are in sin having gone through with their divorce. I tell you divorce is not an unforgivable sin. If you have gone through a divorce and it was questionable God still loves you. He will forgive you. You are not a monster, you are human. We all make mistakes and things don't always go as planned. Let your past go and move on, God still cares for you. In cases of abuse I also believe you can get a divorce, you can't stay with someone who is trying to kill you.

If you can, always choose to try and reconcile with your spouse; people and situations can change. You never know what God will do if you give Him the chance. But divorce is permitted in the Bible. A Christian can divorce and even if you didn't divorce for Biblical reasons God forgives. Divorced Christians are loved by the Lord just as much as ones are not divorced.

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Visitation of Presence

God is doing a new thing right now, God has been putting his kingdom on the hearts of his people but he just doesn’t want it on the heart only God wants to actually visit his people in a very powerful way. God wants to walk among his people, he wants to touch us, speak to us, comfort us, heal us, revive us and not from a distance or from within us but he actually wants to tangibly visit each worship service. God wants to visit your church in the same way he visited the Old Testament Holy of Holies, God wants to visit in the same way he walked among Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God is longing for a massive widespread visitation to his people and for it to not just be a one time thing but an ongoing continual visitation that will change lives and change communities.

Some will read only part of this and say well I know all this brother or if God was wanting to do this then he would tell me this or would have done this already at my church or through me but I plead with you to open up your heart and hear what the Lord is saying through this, please don’t miss what God is wanting to do.

God wants to visit through worship! Not just any old kind of worship but true worship.

Listen it says in John 3:5-8;

5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit . 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."NIV

I tell you the truth when Christ said in the verse above that spirit gives birth to spirit Christ was not talking about the spirit being found in a 12 step romans road process that meets all the modern theologians approval and he was not talking about saying a prayer or just accepting what he did on the cross and reading your Bible once a day as the way to be born of his spirit. Christ had more in mind or he would have laid it all out for us then and there in that verse for if it could be confined to mans reason and a 12 step process than he surely would have laid it all out then and there knowing that for all time people would be reading that verse not to mention the man Christ was speaking with named “Nicodemus” would have liked a process and for an answer with reason and for it to all to line up with the Old Testament scriptures. Instead Christ said of the spirit; “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." This cannot fit into mans understanding even the understanding that we have from the epistles and the rest of the New Testament, it can never fit into anyone’s theology or 12 step process.

Christ also said;

John 4:23-2423 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit , and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."NIV

God is spirit and we are to worship him in spirit and in truth, the truth part speaks of a heart issue and a true heart but the spirit part is what many don’t understand. In order to be alive in Christ and born of spirit you must spend time with God in spirit.

You must worship the Lord in spirit with the right heart. You must submit your spirit to almighty God and touch his spirit and I am not talking about singing songs or praying prayers from your flesh I am talking about letting the power and presence of almighty God totally saturate you and you totally yielding to it on a regular basis and it communing with your spirit.

God wants to spend quality time with you, not just time where you read His Word, or where you pray or listen for his voice, God wants more than that, God wants all of you and he wants to be extremely intimate with you. What would one say or even the Bible say about a marriage between a man and a woman in which the woman doesn’t draw near to her husband and have physical intimacy with him. One would say that they have a bad relationship and an unhealthy unbalanced marriage. In the same way God wants to touch you with his presence in a very tangible way.I have personally went through times in which I stopped getting into the corporate anointing or deep worship with God and I tell you I started to die inside. I looked OK, I talked OK, I even read my Bible, prayed and went to church but I was so dry inside. In the past I used to have very powerful times with God, He would even send me an angel once in a while to speak to me and other times he would speak but when I stopped going in to the Holy of Holies all that stopped and there were no more angels and I barley ever heard from God or felt him.

Worship and the cooperate anointing as some call it is the key to what God is wanting to do and how he is wanting to visit his people.

The corporate anointing is Gods presence and glory touching down in a place where believers are gathered together. This anointing can also be used to heal others and bring miracles. Often times a person will only need to be in that place in order to receive a healing. Usually no one will even need to lay hands on the person; God’s presence touches them just by being there and miracles take place.

Often times when believers come together to worship or pray, there is an anointing that comes into the place of worship. At times the anointing can be stronger than others. But usually when it comes it is like a peaceful, powerful energizing force in a place and it tends to stay in a place. It is the tangible, powerful presence of God, you can feel it. Some people can see it (it often looks like a fog or smoke) and it changes people. When you enter into a place with the corporate anointing, it makes everything else in life seem to disappear, even the time will seem to go by faster, and after you have stayed in it a while you are not only never the same, but you leave energized and feeling refreshed and even physically healed.

The corporate anointing is wonderful and although it is not the only type of Gods anointing it is very unique. As the corporate anointing actually inhabits a place, even after people leave, it stays for a while and occupies the area and has dominion over the area. The area is claimed for God and God’s manifest presence actually can occupy the area and walk among the people. We can worship or pray by ourselves on our own and the anointing can come, and we can be touched by God’s presence, but that presence doesn’t seem to occupy the area and stay there like the corporate anointing does.

The corporate anointing takes more than one person and it always takes all the people that are present to be in unity whether through prayer or worship. If the people who come together are not in unity then the corporate anointing does not usually come. This makes the job of the prayer leader or worship leader very important as they need to lead the prayer meeting or the worship in such a way that everyone present can come into unity. It doesn’t even really matter what type of worship music it is, whether it be hymns or contemporary or prophetic worship, God is not picky about the type of songs, God is more concerned about unity and matters of the heart.

It is almost as if God designed the corporate anointing in such a way that we actually need each other to have it come. Back in the Garden of Eden in Genesis, Adam said of Eve;Gen 2:23-24

23 The man said,

"This is now bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;she shall be called 'woman,'for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.NIV

Adam could not be complete without Eve, they both needed to be in unity to be the complete whole Man that God originally designed. If Adam lost unity with Eve, then technically he would be a man missing one of his ribs. And how can man fulfill his original intended purpose if he was missing part of himself, Adam needed to be in unity with Eve. The sin that took place in the Garden of Eden was pride, and pride being the root of all sin is independence and selfishness which is the opposite of unity.

Now originally God intended to walk amongst Adam and Eve on the earth and he actually did walk amongst them;

Gen 3:8

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day,NIV

God actually walked amongst them and his presence filled the Garden, but once sin, which is the opposite of unity, came- God could no longer walk amongst them and he no longer walked amongst the earth as He once did in all His glory.

Every one of us is related to Adam and Eve. All mankind originated from them and are linked together. And like them we are to be one so that God’s manifest presence can walk amongst us and occupy the area of this earth that we tend to and are entrusted with. Especially we as a church are to walk in unity {John 17:21}. In a way Adam, Eve and God were the first church, they all were in unity and God could walk among them. We, as a church today, need to be in unity with each other and God so that his manifest presence can walk amongst us.

I have seen God as Mosses did many times I have heard his real voice, the voice that spoke all creation into existence, a voice that is so powerful and incomprehensible that it leaves you shacking and trembling for some time and changes your life forever. I tell you the truth God wants to visit his church and for others to see this and hear is voice in all its glory and power but you have to want it, you have to want God to visit your service, you have to want to open up your heart and come into unity with others and lay all the things of this world down, you need to lay down your life, your titles, your pride and social status and totally surrender to God Almighty. You have to open your heart up so wide open that everything is bared.

God wants to visit your church right now, not next year, not next week but right now! God wants to walk among you and inhabit your worship service.

Today, even right now, prepare your heart and church for his visitation, don’t just pray about it get together and worship him in total surrender, its time to remove any and all barriers that would hinder his presence, its time to prepare the way of the Lord!